Follen Community Church Ministerial Candidate Packet 2012-2013 Follen Church Society Unitarian Universalist 755 Massachusetts Avenue Lexington, MA 02420 The Reverend Tricia Brennan and The Reverend Cricket Potter Interim Co-Ministers Sarah Garner Church Administrator [email protected] 781-862-3805 Ext. 205 www.follen.org Table of Contents Chapter 1 ~ Welcome 1 Chapter 2 ~ Our Church 11 Chapter 3 ~ Our People 26 Chapter 4 ~ Our Governance 37 Chapter 5 ~ Our Programs 39 Chapter 6 ~ Our Survey Results 48 Chapter 7 ~ Our Next Minister 68 Chapter 8 ~ Appendix/Publications 70 Credits 71 Follen Church Page ii Chapter 1 ~ Welcome Chapter 1 ~ Welcome From The Search Committee September 2012 Dear Candidate, We send to you a very warm welcome to Follen Community Church. You are beginning to take a journey through our Ministerial Candidate Packet, where you will learn all about our church and our people. In addition to this information you will read about Follen, we want you to get a feeling for the love, joy and deep commitment you will find here. We also hope to convey to you the qualities and skills that we are looking for in a settled minister so that you can begin thinking about whether or not we would make a good match. We are a committee of seven people who have been elected by the congregation to find a minister who will meet our needs and desires. We began working together in May to plan ways to survey our congregation and to complete the process laid out by the UUA. Follen Church Page 1 Chapter 1 ~ Welcome We are happy and honored to be a part of this important process. In creating this packet of information about Follen, we have each been delighted to realize how well all of the facets of our church work together so smoothly. We have learned a great deal and are dedicated to our mission of finding the very best person we can. Follen is a wonderful community. We respect and engage our children and elders. Our youth thrive here and in the larger community. Our adults are welcomed in and encouraged to participate in our many activities and committees. Our congregants actively care for those in need. Our worshipers find light and hope in our services. Our music is especially outstanding. Want to know more? Read on. Our Search Committee welcomes you to get to know us. Sincerely, The Follen Community Church 2012 -2013 Ministerial Search Committee Don Snodgrass, Chair Alex Bromley Colleen McDonald John Dacey Mark Metzger Betsy Leutz Lynne Stinson Follen Church Page 2 Chapter 1 ~ Welcome From Our Interim Co-Ministers September 2012 Dear Colleague, We have served Follen Church as Interim Co-Ministers since August 2011, and it is with great excitement for Follen’s path going forward that we write this letter. From the get-go, we experienced this community to be in a positive place of transition, ready to consider new ideas and directions. They had a long and healthy good-bye with their minister of eighteen years, and healthy bound- aries were established between the congregation and their retiring minister so that both could move forward well. The congregation welcomed us heartily, and of particular note is how open they were to a new model of ministry in our co-ministry. We have had a stellar team to work with all around. The lay leadership at Follen is dedicated, skilled, and passionate about all that makes Follen such a vital community from it’s large covenant group ministry to its highly regarded music program, its engaging RE program, its many special tradi- tions, and its beautiful sanctuary and grounds. Likewise, the staff at Follen bring such strength and commitment to their work. They care deeply about one another and about their work and how it supports Follen’s ministry. It is a strong community with a rich history that it embraces and with a future that it is excited about. As we have engaged the congregation with the developmental tasks of interim ministry, they have responded heartily by attending the different forums we have offered and by delving into the issues at hand. The primary issue we have worked on with the congregation concerns their understanding of the role of the minister. We, Tricia and Cricket, experienced a somewhat circumscribed role for the minister as framed in the congregation’s bylaws and embodied in the congregation’s assumptions about the minister’s involve- ment and authority in the many aspects of congregational life. People listened with an open heart and mind when we raised this issue, and through several different forums, were able to name their assumptions/ concerns as well as show a keen desire to explore new models of lay-minister relationship. Our own model of co-ministry, along with our ongoing work in partnering with the lay leadership to best support one another, have all helped to show new possibilities for shared ministry and leadership. Follen Church Page 3 Chapter 1 ~ Welcome As part of this work, the Transition Team spearheaded a staff reorganization that revised the reporting structure with the goal of providing greater cohesion, communication, and accountability among staff. The leadership then voted to place the minister as “leader of the staff team.” In practical terms, this means that more of the staff report to the minister and that lay leaders are no longer supervising employees. We, Tricia and Cricket, feel that this is a significant step forward for this congregation, its staff, and its next minister. Another area where there has been robust interest, dialogue, and reflection concerns the topic of belonging. What started as a conversation about our differences and how to accept/honor those in community soon moved into deeper work about listening and covenant and creating safe space for all to participate. Folks have found this work valuable and want to continue exploring how the sense of belonging can be enriched further at Follen. One last area of focus worth mentioning is worship. There was a clear desire from many in the congregation to explore ways to both deepen and expand the worship experience. With the Worship and Music Action Team (WMAT), we delved into the questions of what makes for meaningful worship and how we can create a rich and diverse experience of worship over the church year. We also led several different kinds of worship from a service honoring our beloved deceased to others offering an extended time of stillness and prayer and to a series of vespers services during the Lenten season. Both WMAT and others in the congregation have voiced their appreciation for these efforts, and clearly the congregation is eager to explore the experi- ence of worship further with a new settled minister. We cannot say enough positive things about the positive can-do attitude at Follen. Folks like to come together, roll up their sleeves, and engage in the work and fun of community. Like any congregation in transition, tensions and conflicts have arisen. However, people have also brought compassion and patience to the table so that in the end there is good listening and an ongoing understanding that we agree to disagree in the spirit of love. We also want to lift up what we see as this congregation’s readiness to partner with their next settled minister. They clearly hope for someone who also will roll up his/her sleeves and engage with them in the life of the congregation and in its work in the larger world. Should you want to discuss any of these issues in greater detail, please feel free to contact either of us. Tricia can be reached at [email protected] or at 617-645-9681, and Cricket can be reached at cricket. [email protected] or at 508-277-7757. Sincerely, Tricia Brennan Cricket Potter Interim Co-Minister Interim Co-Minister Follen Church Page 4 Chapter 1 ~ Welcome From Our Minister Emerita September 2012 Hello, Dear Colleagues! It was good to be asked by Follen’s Search Committee to add my words of welcome and reflection for your consideration. As you may know, after completing both my MRE and my M.Div. and serving three other congregations, I served Follen for eighteen years from 1993-2011 before retiring and being named their Minister Emerita. It was a happy, productive, significant time of growth for all. Perhaps the easiest way for me to explain “where Follen is” now is to speak briefly to where Follen was when I arrived. My prede- cessor, the Rev. Polly Guild, had - with the help of the Minister of Religious Education Barbara Marshman and the Minister of Music Louise Curtis - pulled the church back from the brink of extinction and into a happy “three ring circus” with lively and devoted groups assisting each minister. It became apparent to me that with competition between the “rings” my long term goal would be to pull the congregation into one big, interactive ring with people circulating more easily between tasks, duties, and leadership in different areas of the church. To accomplish this I needed to focus on several areas: developing methods for safe and trusting dialogue in several significant ways, strengthening and supporting lay leadership, working appreciatively and col- laboratively with a highly talented staff, and building deeper bonds of community, social justice work, and caring support. Obviously, to accomplish these things I did not work alone. The breadth and depth of interests, experiences and abilities within Follen’s congregation have never failed to impress me. They know I contributed to and trusted the process when we worked through issues together.